US - 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar

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2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar
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The word "Braille" (abbreviated Brl in Braille code) "INDEPENDANCE" is shown on a bookcase behind the child. Lettering: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA E PLURIBUS UNUM ONE DOLLAR

Reverse Designer:

Susan Gamble

2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar

he 2009 “Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar" commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of the remarkable Louis Braille. Braille, a Frenchman who became blind as a young child refined a French military system of tactile codes used for communicating silently in the dark, into a compact tactile alphabet that could be used to encode words. The system based on the position of raised dots on a two by three grid became know as the “Braille System”, and is still used today to allow the visually impaired to read.

The coin was made in both Proof and uncirculated finishes at the Philadelpia mint and bear the “P” mint mark on the Obverse under the 2009 date. The obverse (heads) features a portrait of Louis Braille that fills most of the field. The inscriptions LIBERTY arcs along the outside rim from 8 o’clock to 4 o’clock, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST is to the Right of the portrait and the name , LOUIS BRAILLE arc under the portrait. The date 1809 is to the left of the bust and 2009 is to the right with the mint mark directly below. The Obverse was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Master Designer Joel Iskowitz and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor/Engraver Phebe Hemphill. The designer initial “JI” are on Braille’s Left Coat Lapel, while the engravers “PH” are on the right
The reverse (tails), showing a child sitting at a table reading a book presumably in Braille. Above the picture are three Braille Letters “B”, “R” & ”L” an abbreviation for the word "Braille". Behind the table is a bookshelf with the word INDEPENDENCE in block letters across the top face. Arcing along the top rim from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock is the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is to the right of the boy, and ONE DOLLAR arcs across the bottom. The reverse was designed by United States Mint AIP Master Designer Susan Gamble and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor/Engraver Joseph Menna. The initials “SG” and “JM” are just behind the boys chair along the right rim of the coin at about 4 o’clock.

Braille in Braille code (the Braille capital sign and the letters Brl) represented in a way that substantially complies with section 3 of Specification 800 of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress specifications for Braille, and is tactilely indiscernible from printed or written Braille.

Louis Braille (About this sound pronunciation (help·info), /ˈbreɪl/, French: [lwi bʁɑj(ə)]; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains known worldwide simply as braille.

Blinded in both eyes as a result of an early childhood accident, Braille mastered his disability while still a boy. He excelled in his education and received scholarship to France's Royal Institute for Blind Youth. While still a student there, he began developing a system of tactile code that could allow blind persons to read and write quickly and efficiently. Inspired by the military cryptography of Charles Barbier, Braille constructed a new method built specifically for the needs of the blind. He presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824.

In adulthood, Braille served as a professor at the Institute and enjoyed an avocation as a musician, but he largely spent the remainder of his life refining and extending his system. It went unused by most educators for many years after his death, but posterity has recognized braille as a revolutionary invention, and it has been adapted for use in languages worldwide.